1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an extruded material frame connection structure for a vehicle.
2. Background Art
In order to reduce the weight of a vehicle, use of an aluminum material as a vehicle body constituent member has been heretofore thought of. On the other hand, a frame structure shown in FIG. 5 is used in a passenger car. In this frame structure, side sills 11 in a vehicle floor portion, front pillars 12, center pillars 13, and so on, are made from an aluminum extruded material, and those members are combined and connected integrally with one another.
In the aforementioned frame structure, for example, a side sill and a front pillar which are to be substantially perpendicular to each other may be connected to each other as follows. As shown in FIG. 6, the side sill 11 and the front pillar 12 are aluminum extruded materials having different sectional shapes respectively. Accordingly, it is thought of that, for example, a cast joint member 14 is used in a portion of combination of the two members 11 and 12 to attach the two members 11 and 12 to the joint member 14 to thereby connect the two members 11 and 12 to each other.
In the aforementioned insertion structure, however, there are problems as follows. For example, it may be difficult to assemble the two members in accordance with the angle between the two members due to the frame shape. Further, although the welding lengths of the two insertion portions need to be as large as possible in order to enhance strength, the welding lengths are limited because thermal distortion is intensive in the case of an aluminum material. Accordingly, if multi-point spot welding is used, a welding current becomes large.